


How To with Joel and... Ray?

by aam5ever



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Haunted Places, M/M, Outlast gameplay, Spooky, i think this would be an amazing video, i'd pay to see this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 17:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2590898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aam5ever/pseuds/aam5ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray and Joel begin their gaming journey in Outlast... at night... in a haunted asylum. <br/>This will be fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How To with Joel and... Ray?

**Author's Note:**

> One of my favorite self-prompt one offs I've ever done!  
> This was super fun to write, so I hope it's super fun to read! This was inspired by Ray's Outlast stream and Adam and Joel's Outlast How To's, especially that last one in the haunted place.

"Why did you drag me into this?"

"Don't- you could've said no."

"I tried to! You gave me those stupid old puppy eyes."

"Why am I an 'old puppy'?"

"You're more than a decade older than me, old man."

"Just... shut up and help me set up the microphones."

Ray didn't know how he was initially dragged into this. He, in all honesty, could've completely turned down Joel. But, the man's usual partner, Adam, was pretty sick. He hadn't come to work the day before, and today they were supposed to film a pretty... special How To.

"What the FUCK do you mean by 'a haunted asylum'?" Ray exclaimed as Joel only laughed both genuinely and nervously.

"Uh..." He scratched the back of his neck. "Um... we needed a spooky location for a scary game, like The Evil Within." He then looked away. "Or PT... or maybe Outlast."

"No. Fucking. Way." Ray shook his head. "Especially not Outlast. I can't-"

"Outlast it is!"

"GOD DAMN IT, JOEL."

So they went to said spooky location. Ray never really played too many scary games, so ever even thinking about the upcoming event caused him to shudder. What was even WORSE was how bad the reception was in there. Phone calls almost never went through (he checked), texts were never sent (he checked that too), and he wished he could at least check any social media to calm his nerves (nada). 

He was so screwed.

They had gotten a tour of the 'lovely' abandoned asylum, which had been reported for multiple incidents.

"Incidents?" Joel said, scanning the rather rundown area the tour giver had escorted them to. "What does that mean?"

The man in front of them seemed a bit unsure about saying anything. "Um, a few people reported seeing and hearing things... sudden collapses in certain areas..."

"Well, that's wonderful." Ray tried to tug Joel away. "C'mon, let's go film this somewhere else. Disneyland sounds good."

Obviously, that didn't work. As the tour went on, more and more rooms seemed completely untouchable, like they were about to cave in on themselves if you ever set foot on them. It actually WAS the case sometimes, cones in front of certain rooms that couldn't be entered in case you could hurt the room or the room could hurt you.

Joel finally decided to ask the question he had on his mind for quite some time. "So, what's the most... haunted room in this building?"

"Oh, the boiler room." The man immediately informed them without hesitation. "Definetely-"

"We'll film there then."

So there they were, setting up materials for their adventure into Outlast. The head of the tour, along with the other people that were there to help show them around too, had to be called away because of another incident that had apparently occurred. Ray couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. His nerves were being messed with by this tall, pale fourty-something-year-old with the tendency to stutter and go on about the world's economy.

"I think we're ready." Joel sat down at the desk he and his partner were supposed to play at. "You ready?"

"Never."

"Glad to know you're ready."

Ray sighed, his chair creaking as he settled down into it. Joel suddenly removed something from his back pocket, and for a moment the younger man thought he was going to get murdered by being stabbed to death. Then, the older faced the title of said object to Ray.

"The Ghost Meter?"

"The Ghost Meter."

There was a moment of silence.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Maybe it works." Joel shrugged. "It's only to help with the atmosphere." He settled it on the desk, next to himself, and then began to test the footage and sincing with his signature clap. "There." He sat back in his chair.

"So are we... are we fuckin' doing this?" Ray took control of his part of the controller. This was stupid, this was SO stupid-

"Hell yeah." Joel sounded confident. Ray had done a stream in Outlast, and couldn't remember much except for the fact that it was not pleasant.

Once the game started, they were in the rain.

"Well..." Joel glanced at his friend beside him. "I'm already lost."

"Dude, I wasn't here for the past one thousand playthroughs you and Adam did," Ray rolled his eyes. "yet I still remember where we are."

They continued to play, and nothing too disturbing happened for the first two minutes. They eventually found their way inside, and a figure had its back turned to them.

"Uhhh..." Ray was a bit nervous. "Maybe he won't see-"

"He saw us! He saw us!" Joel yelled. His voice echoed through the boiler room, another factor that was making Ray frightened. "Run!"

"I'm trying!" Ray yelled back, panicked. They raced away from the man that was trying to attack them. Joel didn't want to use the battery just yet, so they were running almost blind. It was a nightmare, the music loud and threatening in their headphones, and when it died down, both men knew they were safe. Joel let out a heavy sigh.

"Fun... this game is fun..." He mumbled with a chuckle. 

Ray groaned. "I don't know how much of this I can take."

The two began to look around the asylum again, finding stairs.

"So, what's this guy's name again?" Joel asked as the character climbed the dirty staircase that had way too much dry blood on it.

Ray thought about it for a second. "I think..." He scratched underneath his chin for a second. "I think it's Miles?"

"Let's give him a name." Joel smirked. "A combination of our names."

"Did you do this with Adam before or something?" Ray laughed.

Joel could only shrug as the person on the screen entered a room where dialogue was taking place. "We tried to. Jodam and Adoel didn't... didn't really fit the character."

"Jodam sounded fine to me." Ray was talking and reading the text on screen at the same time.

"What about Roel?" The older man wasnt paying any attention to what was being said. "Or... Jay! Jay sounds good."

"Jay?" Ray tested the name. "Pretty solid name."

Joel looked at the screen and finally realized information was being said. "So..." The only caught the last sentence. Something about files? "What're we doing?"

"Damn it, were you not paying any attention?" Ray feigned irritation, glaring at the other man, who only grinned back.

"Ma-maybe."

"We have to go to the cells and look for stuff, I think."

"Are you sure?"

"Shut the fuck up."

They followed the instructions just told to them (in different forms) and found said cells with no problem. Ray actually let himself believe that there were no jumpscares for a minute or two as he instructed Joel to look certain ways. They looked around one of the cells, and suddenly, someone/something got way too close way too fast, making him way too scary.

"Holy shit!" Ray exclaimed in surprise. Joel only screamed, almost dropping the controller. They tried to fight the man on them, who was doing his best to murder them. The character on screen they lovingly named Jay managed to beat off and kill the disturbing male. He said something under his breath that both the younger and older man didn't hear, since they were still having a bit of an aftershock.

"Just... just kill me now." Ray shook his head and sighed.

"You know how some things like, ADD on to your life?" Joel was facing his friend to talk to him, talking more with his hands. "Like, make your life longer? This game is doing the opposite." Ray couldn't help but laugh at that. "I feel years of my life leaving me."

They began to look around again, and another ugly being tried to come at them. Screaming, both men braced for impact when all of a sudden, someone from inside of a cell grabbed the person coming at them. Ray and Joel heard screams in their headphones, coming from the man that was about to murder them old fashion style. When they stopped, the two looked at each other facing the screen in front of them.

"Thanks, guy..." Joel awkwardly said.

Ray smiled. "Yeah, he's cool."

The partners were beginning to suddenly feel how eerie and scary their literal surroundings were once they reached a certain part of the game.

"I-" The older man was about to say something when a noise went off. Joel's Ghost Meter suddenly let out a beep, causing both men to jump. Joel held it up to the camera before showing the man next to him. "It raised one notch."

"No God damn way..." Ray tried to stop himself from being spooked. "Shut up. It's on a timer or something, isn't it?"

"Ray, I would tell you if I did that." Holy shit, the older friend seemed very serious. 

The Hispanic gulped a little. "I-Okay, well... are we done here?" His voice crack really didn't help that he was trying to remain calm.

"Are..." Joel chuckled a little. "Are you scared?"

"Terrified, actually." Ray rolled his eyes, as if to come off sarcastic. 

Joel looked around the boiler room. "Okay yeah, me too."

"Can we stop for a second?" His younger companion tried to think of a reason to stop. "Just to be safe. We don't want to lose any footage."

So they stopped and paused to check the recording. Once they did, Ray sat back in his chair and groaned loudly. It echoed. "I don't want to do this anymore."

"Me neither." Joel admitted. "I'm fucking shitting my pants." Ray looked over at him. "Theoretically, of course."

Ray was about to speak when he swore he saw a shadow move behind Joel. "Joel." He took a firm hold of the man's arm, who was taken by surprise at the sudden gesture. He jumped a little in his seat. "Joel, look." 

He did so, in the direction Ray was pointing at, and saw nothing at first. "Ray, we're not about to play..." He trailed off once he saw it. The weird shadow that moved. It did so rather slowly, and suddenly, the pipes above them began to make groaning noises, as if they were being used. But who would ever use them?

Now, even playing Outlast was less scary than this experience.

"Okay, break time's over!" Joel shouted a bit too loud out of fear once the shadow seemed to disappear, along with the noise from the pipes. "That was freaky as shit." He looked over at the wide eyed Ray. "Let's... let's just keep playing-"

"What? Are you-" He made a noise of disbelief. "What the hell was that?!"

"No idea. Let's keep-"

"Joel, I swear to God, I will end my life if that thing comes back."

The Ghost Meter started beeping wildly. Both men stared at it in horror before Joel finally made a move, turning the device off. "Okay, we're just gonna calm down..." He was using his please-calm-down-because-I'm-trying-to voice, like the one he used on Jack when he 'gave out his number'. "Caaalm down... are we calming?" Ray only glared at the man. "Maybe we should drink something." Surely his mouth felt dry. "What do you want to drink?"

"What'd you bring?" 

"Water, beer, and soda." He held up the soda and the water. "Obviously these are your two choices."

"I rather my heart rate not reach the fucking mountains, so..." Ray gladly took the cold bottle of water. Speaking of cold, the boiler room was freezing. "Jesus, I'm going to get hypothermia in here."

"Sit closer to me." Joel casually said. Ray gave him a quizzical look. "Do you want to get taken by the slow but painful death by freezing, or cuddle up to a man for the sake of warmth?" Ray grumbled something before getting closer. Joel could see his breath, and saw him shivering. They were both shivering, actually, despite them having hoodies on.

Ray took a swig of his water. "I swear, it was much warmer when we first came down here." 

"We came down here in the evening." Joel said. "I guess it gets pretty damn cold here when night rolls around." Joel decided against the alcohol, knowing that this just wasn't the time for it. He opened the can of soda, and it hissed before he drank from it.

Ray noticed the man's choice. "Isn't alcohol good at keeping people warm or something?" He didn't know much about the substance, so it was only a guess.

"If we have to run out of here because of a ghost chasing us, I wouldn't be any help to you if I was stumbling and drunk." Was Joel's lengthy, nonsensical excuse. Ray accepted it with a shrug.

"You're right."

The cameras started rolling again, and Joel clapped to make sure everything was running right. "Okay." He looked at the younger man that was considerably closer than when they first started, their shoulders actually touching. "So, Ray wanted to stop to make sure the recording was still working." He then slyly smirked. "And because he was scared shitless-"

"Don't you fucking even, Heyman." Ray warned. "You are too."

"...okay MAYBE me too." He admitted. "But c'mon, this place looks EXACTLY like the one- this one in the game!"

They had begun playing the survival horror yet again, and sure enough, Joel wasn't lying. Everything seemed remarkably similar, almost familiar. The rooms upstairs from where they were now did resemble the setting and feel of the place where Jay was.

"Look left." Ray instructed his older friend. He did so, and immediately regretted it when one of the creepiest men/things in the game was running at them full speed. Both men were startled, almost dropped the controller and falling out their seats. "Why did it have to be there!?" Ray was simultaneously spooked and angry that he was spooked. "You son of a bitch! Why did you have to be there?!"

Joel was cracking up at the shorter male's rage as their character was beaten and mutilated to a pulp. "God damn..." He grinned at him. "You alright?"

Ray made a face. "Fucking stupid game." They tried again, running away from the man instead of looking at him immediately.

The game was really messing with their heads as they continued. It made them even more frightened and jumpy than they were already. Joel decided to take advantage of this oppurtunity as Jay was making his way down what seemed to be a harmless hallway.

Ray didn't expect it, but when it came, he took action. He didn't know what made him punch Joel accidentally first; the scream of bloody murder the older man did for what seemed to be no reason as first, or the deranged being on screen that was waiting for them once Jay turned the corner. Either way, he punched Joel in the gut (ruthlessly, he might add) and paused the game because of how much he was apologizing, how hard he was laughing, and how dead they were about to be.

"Oh my God..." Joel coughed. "That... that was brutal." He hunched over, clutching his stomach and chuckling occasionally. "... What the fuck, Ray?!"

"I-I'm so sorry!" The youngest of the two tried to say between gasps of laughter. He put a hand on Joel's shoulder and was covering his mouth to smother his laughing. "I'm so damn sorry..." 

"That... that was a good punch." Joel gave him props for that. "I hope that was caught on camera."

"I think it was." Ray smirked. 

"Alrighty then." Joel sat up more, wincing slightly. "Let's continue."

They unpaused the game, unprepared for what they had just left off on. In a flurry of panic, Jay got basically destroyed by the man in front of him. Joel silently apologized to the made up character for even being in that place as a screen came up that told them to Try Again. He slowly realized that the place him and Ray were in could easily be as terrifying if there were people like this there.

Maybe there were.

They never really did get to see the third floor.

Is that why they couldn't go up there? Was it more than the tour giver being called in for another incident? Did incident mean more than 'hearing strange things'-

"Joel, for the love of God, pay attention!" Ray snapped the older man back to reality. His tangent was about to get way too complicated if he kept going.

"Huh?" He was obviously not listening.

"I said to look right." Ray shook his head at how clueless the man next to him was at times. "God damn it."

"Oh." Doing as he was told, Joel looked right, and they continued into the game. It didn't get as peaceful after that, because they had to hightail it down a hallway literally a minute after.

They had just reached a room that was littered with some dead bodies when a loud 'clang' caused both Joel and Ray to basically lose their shit, dropping the controller, clinging onto each other, and screaming. When they finished screaming, they refused to let go of each other.

"What the fuck was that?" Joel whispered fiercely at Ray.

"How the hell should I know?" Ray responded, equally spooked the fuck out. At least their terrified hugging kept them warm.

Another 'gong' sounded, this time from above. Joel yelped when he thought he saw something move on the ceiling, and Ray buried his face in the older man's chest. 

"CAN WE LEAVE NOW?!" He worriedly asked loud enough to be picked up by the microphone. His voice was muffled in Joel's shirt.

"I-I think we're do- I think we're done." Joel stammered. The man was very inviting of the younger's head on his chest. Ray could hear Joel's heartbeat, which was unbelievably fast. He and Ray both faced the camera. "Okay, this was PT- no, Outlast, or whatever the fuck, I don't care."

"I hate all of you that watched this and laughed." Ray said with no malice whatsoever. "Also, fuck you Adam Ellis."

"Yeah, screw you." 

"Prick."

They were still hugging each other, way too scared to let go. "And that's how you Outlast!"

"We Outlasted this fucking asylum."

"How do you know that?"

Then they looked at each other as a very ominous creak sounded, and screamed at something just outside the camera's view before the recording stopped.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, Suggestions, and Prompts Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever  
> (Yay first end note)


End file.
